How to remove other search engines?

leocg

leocg Moderator Volunteer @SadScribbler

@sadscribbler Yes, they are legit. Check https://forums.opera.com/post/331764

A Former User @burnout426

@burnout426 Do you think, this is a matter for concern? I'm not using Bing anyways. But why should there be a redirect, when you use a certain search engine?

hucker

hucker @leocg

@leocg https://www.scam-detector.com/validator/ysrcunow-com-review/
It is not legit. Why would searching on Bing go to anything but Bing?
Notice it calls it an "ecommerce site", not a search engine.
Scams inside browser code whatever next.

SadScribbler

SadScribbler @hucker

@hucker Totally agree. If I want to go to Bing - then I go Bing, nowhere else.

It seems the developers of Opera don't want persons to be able to edits the search engine list - now perhaps we know why.

It does beg the question, how trustworthy are other aspects of the browser? Unconscionable and outrageous conduct.

leocg

leocg Moderator Volunteer @hucker

@hucker As said, it was confirmed by someone from Opera that the link is legit.

hucker

hucker @leocg

@leocg It is not legit to go somewhere other than where I asked.

myswtest

myswtest

So I've spent time experimenting with different options for a fix for this issue.

Ultimately, this is the easiest and most reasonable. Of course it means you'll have to apply this change to all machines you have Opera on. This easy fix will help those who are concerned with this.

So on all OSes, there is a config file named: "hosts". On Unix style OSes (like Linux), it's path is:
/etc/hosts

On Windows OSes, the path is:
c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts

You have to be the root user to edit it. Open the file in your favorite text editor, and append this line:
0.0.0.0 ysrcunow.com

Basically, your browsers and such need to resolve the spelled-out-website-name into an IP numerical address, and then it reaches out to the website using that value. The first thing it does is look in the "hosts" file for the numerical address - if found, it uses it ... otherwise, it reaches out to the your DNS server (like a phonebook of the Internet) for the translation.

Basically, the address "0.0.0.0" is a dead address, ie, it resolves to "nothing", so your browser will NOT be directed to the actual website.

That's it. Good luck to all. I will post this here, and to another thread regarding this concern. The user leocg will probably comment, but doesn't matter. I've also seen this person posting out to a Reddit thread (with a slightly different username, but similar pattern: gomesleo).

(Sidenote: FWIW, I'm a software engineer with 35+ years experience (now retired ... I'm also a published author of four computer books), and spent quite a while with the security team. This is very questionable. After I'm done posting, I will be gone from this forum, and will uninstall Opera from all four of my machines, and will pass on the info to many others).

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer @Guest

@celticcross said in How to remove other search engines?:

@burnout426 Do you think, this is a matter for concern?

If you don't like the site's privacy policy and don't want your Bing searches shared with that site, then yes, it's a concern. If you trust Opera and trust that they fully vetted the company and the site, then you don't need to worry.

I'm not using Bing anyways.

Then you're all good either way. It's only with the default Bing search. I don't use Bing either.

If you did want to use Bing but without the redirect, you can goto the URL opera://settings/searchEngines, click "Add" under the
"Site Search" section, name it Bing (Direct), set its keyword to bd and set its URL to https://www.bing.com/search?q=%s. Then, whenever you want to search Bing, type bd and a space in the address field before you type your search terms.

But why should there be a redirect, when you use a certain search engine?

Ideally, there shouldn't. But, to make money, Opera has all kinds of partners and shares things. See https://legal.opera.com/privacy/ for example.

A Former User @burnout426

@burnout426 Thank you for your answer, clear and decent as always. It appears to be a full time job to explain Opera‘s sometimes very mysterious behavior.
In this case, I‘m not concerned personally as I switch between Google and DDG, usually. Even as I tried Bing yesterday I saw no redirect here maybe, bc it‘s bing.de not bing.com?
Anyways as far as I understand Opera‘s need to monetize, such behavior isn‘t helpful to maintain the trust of its users, is it? I mean, you always read about this China thing and about selling user data. I don‘t believe this, at least not in this form. But Opera often gets over ambitious with its promotional stuff.
I really like this browser. Although I‘m trying out others in parallel, Vivaldi, Firefox and Edge especially, I‘m always coming back here, as it gives me the best mixture of all these. But they have to work, not to lose users‘ trust.

hucker

hucker @burnout426

@burnout426 said in How to remove other search engines?:

If you don't like the site's privacy policy and don't want your Bing searches shared with that site, then yes, it's a concern. If you trust Opera and trust that they fully vetted the company and the site, then you don't need to worry.

I'm not using Bing anyways.

Neither am I, I trust MS less than anything else. Bing is useless anyway, 90% ads, 10% results.

If you did want to use Bing but without the redirect, you can goto the URL opera://settings/searchEngines, click "Add" under the
"Site Search" section, name it Bing (Direct), set its keyword to bd and set its URL to https://www.bing.com/search?q=%s. Then, whenever you want to search Bing, type bd and a space in the address field before you type your search terms.

We should be able to change the letters.

But why should there be a redirect, when you use a certain search engine?

Ideally, there shouldn't. But, to make money, Opera has all kinds of partners and shares things. See https://legal.opera.com/privacy/ for example.

I don't understand how I can get 5% off everything from AliExpress. Who is paying? £11 off a laser engraver was nice. Anyone want an engraved mahogany house sign?

Ideally, there shouldn't. But, to make money, Opera has all kinds of partners and shares things. See https://legal.opera.com/privacy/ for example.

Sorry I can't read that, I only speak English.

hucker

hucker @Guest

@celticcross said in How to remove other search engines?:

Anyways as far as I understand Opera‘s need to monetize, such behavior isn‘t helpful to maintain the trust of its users, is it? I mean, you always read about this China thing and about selling user data.

Google is the biggest seller of user data. At least Opera blocks all it's ads

Abyja123

Abyja123 @hucker

@hucker said in [How to remove link textother search engines?](/post/331077):

Every time I want ~~strikethrough text~~to search for something beginning with a single letter, eg. "b c d circuit breaker curves", instead of searching for what I asked, it used bing to s Flink text

Search for what I asked minus the first letter. How do I stop this nonsense. I use only one search engine, duckduckgo.

I looked in the settings and all I can do is change the defaults. There must be an ini file somewhere I can remove or at least change the shortcut for the others? But I don't even know where those ini files are, or does it use the registry?

Juste be used microsoft you just let felded in other apps .then and then you could be posible to change theme egs. Or remove all fortune your selfe. It's juste Microsoft software fixin outcare by your owne time(s)

You could asking Azure softeware noledges ,to helpe you recording your System or m'y Last choice Relowde The System Of Softe Ware!!

I wesh u could find wath your possibillity_,b c d circuit breker curves" if possible changes or remove egouik iopossibillitys.
Was Kuy* bord eg. To suarch u could Finded : "letter before G after S".

To personnal user alone
Abylink text ja123

SadScribbler

SadScribbler @myswtest

@myswtest An excellent and very elegant solution! Thank you for sharing that.

I too use the /hosts file on my Windows machines so that I can access my own local webserver so this isn't a problem.

Thank you too, for constructive guidance and not the biassed responses that some seem to think is acceptable.

hucker

hucker @Abyja123

@abyja123 said in How to remove other search engines?:

@hucker said in [How to remove link textother search engines?](/post/331077):

Every time I want ~~strikethrough text~~to search for something beginning with a single letter, eg. "b c d circuit breaker curves", instead of searching for what I asked, it used bing to s Flink text

Search for what I asked minus the first letter. How do I stop this nonsense. I use only one search engine, duckduckgo.

I looked in the settings and all I can do is change the defaults. There must be an ini file somewhere I can remove or at least change the shortcut for the others? But I don't even know where those ini files are, or does it use the registry?

Juste be used microsoft you just let felded in other apps .then and then you could be posible to change theme egs. Or remove all fortune your selfe. It's juste Microsoft software fixin outcare by your owne time(s)

You could asking Azure softeware noledges ,to helpe you recording your System or m'y Last choice Relowde The System Of Softe Ware!!

I wesh u could find wath your possibillity_,b c d circuit breker curves" if possible changes or remove egouik iopossibillitys.
Was Kuy* bord eg. To suarch u could Finded : "letter before G after S".

To personnal user alone
Abylink text ja123

You just crashed Google translate.

burnout426

burnout426 Volunteer @burnout426

@burnout426 said in How to remove other search engines?:

@sadscribbler Those entries were put there by Opera. They're not malware.

From Opera Security Team: https://www.reddit.com/r/operabrowser/comments/17i3mng/comment/k7ia1wp/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Hi. Thanks for bringing this to our attention - we had the team investigate this and yes, this was a safe implementation. However, it has now been discontinued and Bing results should be showing up normally now.

hucker

hucker @burnout426

@burnout426 So they decided to stop receiving dirty money!

Opera could probably collect more more from M$ themselves. Bing is the most advert ridden piece of crap I've ever seen. Finding an actual result is almost impossible.

So we still have the original problem, searches beginning with a letter use a non-default search engine. I can't think of a single person who uses more than one search engine. This feature is ridiculous.

A Former User

I really want to trust Opera as a company, and I'm aware that they somehow have to make money - but incidents like this make it very hard to believe they are playing fair with users like us.
I wonder why the security team has to find, what has been implemented by whosoever.
As I said, I'm not using Bing Search - if I did, I'd rather use Edge anyway - and so I'm not concerned by this. But I'm concerned in just another way: How confident can I be that Opera doesn't do some shady things without getting user consent?
I really like the browser itself and I'm using its features heavily. I'm not that worried about the Chinese investors generally, but it's the small and quickly overseen things that matter, too. I'm not looking for total security or privacy. I wouldn't use Opera then anyway. But when they proclaim user security and privacy, they shouldn't do things like this.

hucker

hucker @Guest

What amuses me is Opera blocks other people's ads, then puts in their own. Is this some kind of ad war?

A Former User @hucker

@hucker That‘s what Brave does by design, as well. All these smaller browser projects are in need to monetize, whereas Apple, Google and MS just have other revenues to get their browsers going.
Opera is the biggest alternative browser maker next to Mozilla by far, but people consider them as still „tiny“ next to the big tech giants. So they have to find ways to find to capatilize in a way that’s accebtable somehow.

hucker

hucker @Guest

@celticcross Real cash might help. There are programs (even little utilities like Startallback) which are free, but ask for donations. Admittedly Startallback nags each startup, but it doesn't limit usage. I think uTorrent has a banner asking to donate. All you get without donating is a banner.

I don't pay for either, but I know many people do.